Sealing Jutsu Sensei

After the holiday began, the ninja academy lost its usual hustle and bustle and became especially quiet. Spring sunlight streamed in through the library's skylight, landing on Natsuhiko, who was standing in front of a bookshelf, basking in the warm glow.

At that moment, he had just turned to the last page of the book in his hand. His blue, glowing eyes scanned the page, and then he closed both the book and his eyes simultaneously.

When he reopened them, they had returned to their usual black colour.

Natsuhiko then gently exhaled, and the dust in the air danced in the sunlight with his breath.

"This should be the last one," Natsuhiko thought silently as he looked at the book in his hand.

After an entire semester and nearly a week of vacation, he finally recorded all the books in the Ninja Academy library into his knowledge database.

In addition, now that he was officially a teacher of sealing jutsu, he had gained access to the collection of sealing texts that Teacher Mito had donated to the school.

According to the plan he had made when he returned to the academy, he had now perfectly achieved his goal and could leave at any time.

Thinking of this, Natsuhiko couldn't help but chuckle to himself.

Plans never keep up with changes, after all.

When he first returned to Konoha to work as a teacher, he hadn't expected so many things to happen in just one semester, completely throwing off his plan.

If he had to trace the moment things started to spiral out of control, it would probably have been when he encountered Kushina hanging in the office.

Now, as Mito's disciple, he had access to many precious sealing jutsu and various related texts that he could never have imagined before.

He no longer had to search through the library like before, scavenging for bits of proper knowledge.

Even the sealing texts that he had once coveted, which were the prized possessions of the library, he had long since read in Teacher Mito's study.

Not only that, but the notes written by Teacher Mito made those versions far superior to the ones in the library.

After some thought, however, Natsuhiko decided to finish what he had started and record all the books in the library.

His motivation wasn't just a hint of OCD.

It was also because these miscellaneous books, donated by different ninja clans, though not as profound as the precious sealing texts, covered a more comprehensive range of topics.

For someone like Natsuhiko, who didn't intend to follow the path of his predecessors, this seemingly irrelevant knowledge sparked inspiration when combined with his ideas from his previous life.

In fact, the library's collection could no longer satisfy his needs.

That's why he integrated the function of an online library into the prototype of the communication bracelet he planned to promote later.

He had already roughly outlined how he would use this online library as a platform to gradually gather all the knowledge in the ninja world, constantly feeding his exploration of chakra's mysteries.

Thus, he had another reason to record all the books in the library: to later upload them to the shared library under the school's name, serving as a kind of front.

After putting the book back on the shelf, Natsuhiko slowly looked around the library, feeling a sense of nostalgia.

It was like clearing a level in a game; unless there were a special event, he probably wouldn't come here again.

He was a bit disappointed that he never figured out whether the librarian and old man Qin at the gate had anything going on between them.

Also, due to the academy's age, some of the books had been damaged or lost, making his collection imperfect.

The legendary "Summoning Beast Girl Evaluation Guide," Snake Girl Volume, was especially frustrating for Natsuhiko, who searched the entire library but couldn't find it.

Of course, not for any other reason; as a diligent learner, he just wanted to learn... well, knowledge.

With a faint sense of regret, Natsuhiko said goodbye to the librarian and slowly walked out of the library.

…

Meanwhile, in a secluded research lab in the Hidden Leaf Village…

In a dimly lit laboratory, a man with long black hair and an eerie, delicate aura injected a toad with a syringe of green liquid, carefully observing any changes that might occur in its body.

Suddenly, a cautious knock on the door came from outside, causing him to frown slightly.

"What is it?" he asked in a raspy voice, his eyes still fixed on the toad.

"Orochimaru-sama, the person has been brought," came the response from outside.

Orochimaru thought for a moment, remembering what the person was referring to, and said slowly, "Let her in."

"Yes."

The lab door opened, and the hallway light poured in, causing Orochimaru's golden slit pupils to contract slightly from the brightness.

"Alright, Anko, go in and remember to behave."

"Mm!"

A female ninja opened the door and then stepped aside.

From the corner of his narrowed eyes, Orochimaru saw a lively little girl of about four or five with purple hair walking into the dimly lit lab.

Unlike most girls her age, Anko wasn't frightened by the eerie environment; instead, she curiously looked around.

Though the lab was dim, as if they couldn't afford the electric bill, it was actually well-organized.

What caught Anko's attention the most was the row of shelves to the left of the door, filled with strange and terrifying biological specimens.

The only thing they had in common was that they all had some snake-like features as if they were creatures born from the fusion of different animals and snakes. It was enough to give any child nightmares.

Even Anko, who was usually bold, felt a little creeped out by the specimens.

One of the creatures—a snake-and-cat hybrid—even turned its pupils toward her, making her gasp and step back in fright.

She instinctively glanced back at the female ninja who had brought her, but the woman gave her a complicated look somewhere between envy and pity. After a final apologetic smile, she closed the door and left.

The lab returned to darkness.

"It feels like Orochimaru-sama has been getting scarier lately…"

The female ninja thought as she quickened her pace down the hallway.

Still standing at the lab's entrance, little Anko listened to the fading footsteps and began to feel a bit panicked.

But she kept reassuring herself.

Her mother had said that if she could become the apprentice of this strange man called Orochimaru, she would get to eat red bean soup and dumplings every day.

Thinking of this, Anko nearly drooled and quickly wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

Meanwhile, Orochimaru, who had been watching her from the corner of his eye, was mildly surprised.

Why was this little girl drooling over a bunch of creepy specimens? 

(End of chapter)

Guys, I am back! Thank you to everyone for your wishes, they mean alot to me.

Btw, Kakuzu vs Natsuhiko draws to a conclusion!

A creepy black tendril approaches a defenseless Natsuhiko and grabs his neck…

What happens next? Find out on the advanced chapters on my Patreon!

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